The Westerner

Japan to resume some U.S. beef imports Japan and the United States agreed on Saturday to resume imports of some American beef, halted since December after a case of mad cow disease in Washington state, but did not set a date for restarting trade. Before the ban, Japan was the top market for U.S. beef, buying some $1.4 billion a year. The first high-level talks on the issue in six months produced a framework deal on beef with birth records showing an age up to 20 months. Younger cattle are believed by scientists to carry the lowest risk of the illness. But the two sides failed to reach a deal on how to determine the age of animals without birth records, leaving the bulk of U.S. beef shipments to Japan on hold. Cattle with birth records account for about only 10 percent of all American cattle, a Japanese Agriculture Ministry official said. "We have been able to conclude a framework agreement that will permit the resumption of trade in beef and beef products between our two countries," U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary J.B. Penn told reporters after the meeting....

JOINT PRESS STATEMENT FOR THE RESUMPTION OF TRADE IN BEEF AND BEEF PRODUCTS by the Government of United States and the Government of the Japan October 23, 2004

On October 21, 22 and 23, 2004, the Government of the United States (USG) and the Government of Japan (GOJ) held Director-General level consultations in Tokyo on the resumption of beef trade between the two countries. During the meetings, the GOJ explained the review process of domestic measures against BSE. The USG explained their domestic measures taken against BSE and presented basic ideas for the resumption of two-way beef trade.
The USG and GOJ, as a result of their consultation, shared the view that under the following conditions and modalities the two countries will resume two-way trade in beef and beef products, subject to their respective domestic approval processes, based upon science. Further details of some conditions and modalities remain to be worked out by experts and working-level officials of both countries by the time of the actual resumption of trade.
A. JAPANESE EXPORT TO THE UNITED STATES
The United States will permit Japanese export of beef and beef products following relevant domestic rule-making procedures.
B. U.S. EXPORT TO JAPAN: MARKETING PROGRAM
The United States will establish a marketing program that enables a resumption of some trade for an interim time period (interim trade program). The operational details of the Beef Export Verification (BEV) Program managed by U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will be further worked out by U.S. experts and Japanese, major points of which are as follows:
1. Specified risk materials (SRMs) must be removed from animals of all ages.
a) The range of SRMs is defined as bovine heads (except for tongues and cheek meat, but including tonsils), spinal cords, distal ileum (two meters from connection to caecum), vertebral column (excluding the transverse processes of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, the wings of the sacrum and the vertebrae of the tail) of all ages.
b) In regard to treatment of SRMs, USDA will verify the control program of each facility managed by HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) or SSOP (Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures).
2. Beef items including offals and variety meats must be derived from bovine animals verified to be 20 months of age or younger.
3. Bovine animals included in the BEV Program for Japan must be traceable to live animal production records which indicate that they are 20 months of age or younger at the time of slaughter. Records that will be used to verify this requirement by the USG must meet at least one of the following criteria:
a) Individual Animal Age Verification
b) Group Age Verification
c) Insemination Age Verification
d) USDA Process Verified Animal Identification and Data Collection Services
4. Experts of both countries will continue to consult on carcass grading and quality attributes with a view to verifying physiological age to evaluate carcasses to be 20 months of age or younger. Additional information will be developed by USDA for consideration by the experts, including a special physiological maturity study (Terms of Reference attached in the Annex). This study will involve examination of maturity grades of samples of representative cattle. When the carcass grading system objectively demonstrates that it can verify physiological age to evaluate carcasses to be 20 months of age or younger, it will be used as a method to satisfy the BEV program requirement.
C. DOMESTIC PROCEDURES AND TIMING OF RESUMING TRADE
The necessary modifications to U.S. and Japanese regulations would be completed expeditiously so the United States and Japan will resume two-way beef trade immediately after completing their respective domestic procedures. In Japan's case, such domestic approval process includes deliberation by the Food Safety Commission. Both countries will undertake these domestic procedures and endeavor to resume the beef trade as soon as possible.
D. CONTINUED JOINT SCIENTIFIC CONSULTATIONS
1. Joint consultations by the U.S. and Japanese experts will be continued to help both sides gain a fuller understanding of the pathogenesis and patterns of the BSE disease. Specific topics to be addressed would include (but not limited to): BSE definition and testing methods; transmissibility; and current and ongoing research including the Japanese transgenic mouse assay.
2. Other international experts including from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) would be invited to participate in the consultations.
3. The consultations would begin immediately and be conducted to provide information to be available for the BEV Program Review (as described in E below).
E. BEV PROGRAM REVIEW
The BEV Program (as described in B above) will be reviewed for modification as may be appropriate in July 2005. The joint review by officials of the Governments of the United States and Japan will take into account a scientific review to be conducted by OIE and WHO experts. The conclusion of the review, including the action to be taken, will be made by the consensus judgment of both Governments. In Japan's case, it will be subject to deliberation by the Food Safety Commission.
- Scientific Review. Experts from the OIE and the WHO will be asked to review existing and new information to be compiled during operation of the BEV Program and to provide guidance as to modifications that might be appropriately made and assure consumer safety in U.S.- Japan beef trade. The information to be reviewed will include: Information made available by the joint scientific consultation as described in D above; The United States BSE status according to OIE criteria to be reviewed; results of the U.S. enhanced surveillance program; U.S. feed regulations; and the range of BSE amelioration measures in place in the United States; Cut-off age for BSE testing; and Other relevant scientific information.
F. PREVENTION OF TRADE DISRUPTION
Both the United States and Japan have food safety systems in place that are sufficiently robust such that identification of a few additional BSE cases will not result in market closures and disruption of beef trade patterns without scientific foundations.
G. AUDIT SYSTEM
Following equivalency audits of each country's relevant food safety system and resumption of trade, both countries will cooperate to audit each side's facilities on a regular basis.
ANNEX
Terms of Reference: Physiological Maturity of Beef Cattle Carcasses
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will conduct a special study in which steers and heifers of known ages (births identified within a one month period) are slaughtered and evaluated for physiological maturity. The purpose of the study is to determine an expected end-point maturity that will assure the exclusion of steers or heifers with a chronological age greater than 20 months from a certification program for export to Japan. This evaluation of physiological maturity on a representative sample of the U.S. fed-beef slaughter population will provide a reliable assessment of the age of cattle. The study, in consultations with Japanese experts, will be designed and the data analyzed utilizing internationally recognized sampling and statistical methods. The study will be completed and a report presented within 45 days.

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NEWS ROUNDUP

Split-estate proposals criticized Landowners - ranchers, rural homeowners and otherwise - may be shooting themselves in the foot to support "split-estate" legislation guaranteeing compensation for loss of land value due to mineral development, according to a Casper attorney who represents mineral developers. "We're doing, voluntarily, more than we have to," said Drake Hill of Brown, Drew & Massey, LLP. Any standard for compensation might actually undercut standard monetary deals currently being negotiated between mineral developers and landowners in the Powder River Basin, he said. And mineral owners fear the legislation may give surface owners the power to ask for the moon....
Westerners frustrated over lack of dialogue in campaigns President Bush and Sen. John Kerry have repeatedly missed chances to lock up votes in battleground states like Colorado and New Mexico by trotting out well-worn stump speeches that fail to mention key Western issues such as water and energy development, according to residents and regional experts. Rancher Tweeti Blancett of Aztec, N.M., a county chairwoman of the Bush-Cheney campaign four years ago, said she is undecided headed into Nov. 2. She said the Bush administration's record is "miserable" on managing the oil and gas drilling that has proliferated in her area. But she also says she expected more from Kerry and has heard nothing to convince her he will do a better job....
A Quiet Struggle for the Conservationist Vote The word "environment" was scarcely mentioned in the three presidential debates and polls show that environmental issues barely register in the litany of concerns likely to sway presidential voters. But a fierce if quiet struggle is being fought for the support of hunters, anglers and conservationists, and it is being waged from the pages of Field & Stream magazine to the strategy sessions of the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters. President Bush granted one of his few full interviews during the campaign to Field & Stream, a clear channel to millions of hunters and fishermen, some of whom have been dismayed by the administration's policies on wetlands and energy drilling in the West....
Alaska petition underscores Bush-Kerry fight for sportsmen's vote Anyone wondering why President Bush and Sen. John Kerry have been talking up hunting and fishing in recent days need look no further than two anti-logging petitions widely circulated by a sportsmen's association in Alaska. Demonstrating their political involvement, some 721 gun clubs and shooting ranges and 328 angling clubs have signed onto the petitions, particularly those in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan - key election battleground states. The groups, representing thousands of members, say the Bush administration should reverse its decision to let industry use up to 2.6 million acres more of Alaska's 16.8 million-acre Tongass National Forest, where federal subsidies support logging....
Calif. Nixes Tiger Salamander Protections A split state wildlife commission rejected extra protections for the California tiger salamander for the second time Friday. Developers had warned that additional restrictions could hurt efforts to keep up with the state's rapid population growth in the Central Valley, Central Coast and San Francisco Bay area. The majority of commissioners agreed with opponents who said there is no evidence the black-and-yellow amphibian is likely to become extinct in the foreseeable future....
What do you think about the Black Hills? I mention it only because "time is about up". Not only do we need to wrap up this ten-year plan, but it is almost time to start on the next one. Comments on the pending "Phase II” amendments to the 1997 Forest Plan are due by December 15. No. That's not a typo. The government is still trying to finish the "1997" ten-year plan. I would not want you to miss another chance to get in on the "wonderful process" that Congress has created for managing federal lands. Here is how Congress manages land: they take a pine forest that grows on a two-hundred-year rotation; write a ten-year plan to manage it; provide for a public review, administrative appeal, and judicial review process that takes about seven-to-ten years, and then write a new ten-year plan at least once every fifteen years....
National Park Service drops concerns on illuminating Gateway Arch in pink The National Park Service is no longer voicing concerns about illuminating the 630-foot Gateway Arch in pink in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Arch -- in St. Louis -- will be illuminated in pink on Monday night only. Normally, the national monument is bathed in white light....
Agency: Calif. Water Shift Won't Hurt Fish A federal agency ruled Friday that shifting more Northern California water to Southern California will not jeopardize five threatened or endangered species of fish. The ruling clears the way for the federal Bureau of Reclamation and state Department of Water Resources to sign long-term water contracts with rural irrigation districts and urban water districts. They also can continue with plans to pump more water through the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to thirsty Southern California....
Farmers, ranchers and tractors take their message to the streets Farmers and ranchers from across San Luis Obispo County took to the streets on Thursday to set the record straight on how they feel about the proposed ban on genetically modified crops. Nearly 100 farmers and ranchers from the area drove their tractors, trucks, and farm equipment through downtown San Luis Obispo. The group protests the claim by Measure Q proponents that local farmers support the initiative. Protesters believe 99% of county farmers oppose Measure Q, and say they're trying to defeat a bad piece of rushed legislation....

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Forest Service Donates Flu Vaccine??

LINCOLN, Neb. - More flu vaccine is coming into Nebraska, but the state's chief medical officer said Thursday he doesn't know exactly how much more or when it will arrive.

"We still have a shortage, however I want to reassure high-risk people that more vaccine is on the way," Dr. Richard Raymond said. "If you can't get a flu shot today, you may be able to get one a week or a month from now."

It is projected that 99,000 Nebraskans have received a flu shot so far, based on a state Health and Human Services System survey. Health care providers across the state received 10,000 doses of the vaccine just this week, the survey found.

Vaccine is also being donated by groups that don't have high-risk patients to vaccinate, HHS said. The U.S. Forest Service donated more than 300 doses which was given to a nursing home and 2,500 doses at Columbus Community Hospital originally intended for local businesses were redistributed to a hospital in Grand Island, a veterans home in Norfolk and a health department in North Platte....

This article appeared in the Lincoln Journal Star and the link is no longer valid. But neighbor, please tell me how the US Forest Service had flu vaccine to donate?

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NEWS ROUNDUP

Editorial: Forest should never close NOW that rain has soaked the forest plain, the U.S. Forest Service has magnanimously reopened three regional forests to recreational uses. Especially gratifying is to see most of the heavily traversed Angeles reopened along with the Cleveland and San Bernardino forests. Well, not all of the Angeles will welcome back visitors. Chantry Flat Road and Crystal Lake will remain closed. These areas have been off limits for two years. It's past time they are reopened. If the roadways need repair, do it. It's the kind of job the service should be engaged in, not citing folks without Adventure Passes, or consulting with the weatherman over which seasons the public can use the land it has purchased and maintains through taxes....
Searching for common ground The June sucker (Chasmistes liorus), an endangered species found only in Utah Lake, the freshwater fishery adjacent to the Great Salt Lake, has had anglers, biologists and fish and wildlife representatives at odds with one another as the recovery plan for this species unfolds. After years of losing the public relations battle, project officials, along with interested citizens groups, have come to the table this year in an attempt to find common ground and to turn an atmosphere of contention into one of cooperation. Utah Lake is a prolific fishery and has been since before the days of the pioneers. Early explorers reported that Native Americans utilized its plentiful fish populations as an important source of food. In the 1850s, the Bonneville cutthroat trout was its chief predator species and the June sucker was present in huge numbers. But as the human population grew, agriculture blossomed, and industry sprang up along its shoreline, the lake began to change....
Federal Court Upholds California Ban on Cruel Traps and Poisons This week, the federal court in northern California issued a ruling representing the final chapter in the long-running litigation over Proposition 4, which was adopted by California voters in 1998 to protect pets and wildlife from cruel traps and poisons. The National Trappers Association had challenged the legality of Proposition 4 and had claimed that the state measure is preempted by federal laws. The court has dismissed those claims, noting that the trappers do not have standing to sue, and that Proposition 4 should stand. Since the trappers could not prove they were financially harmed by Proposition 4, they instead argued that they were harmed by having to change their conduct, no longer using "preferred" devices such as steel-jawed leghold traps or M-44 explosives....
Coho bred for their DNA freed into a tributary of the Russian Two hundred salmon fingerlings were released Wednesday into Mill Creek, a tributary of the Russian River, in a campaign to restore wild coho to one of Northern California's most beleaguered watersheds. The fish looked much like any other juvenile salmon -- thumb-sized, with silvery scales and distinctive bars along the flanks. But they are the end product of a laborious three-year program that used sophisticated DNA tests and careful breeding to raise the odds of success....
The Mouse That Roared One little mouse has held up a multi-million dollar housing project in Colorado. The critter is one single Preble's meadow jumping mouse. It's a federally protected endangered species. A colony lives nearby, but one single mouse was found on the grounds of the development. Because of the mouse, work on the 372 home development was delayed for three and a half months. Now all cats in the development are banned from going outdoors. Dogs and all other pets must be leashed or kept behind fenced yards. The developer has even had to move the planned spots for foot bridges and had to change the types of grass it is planting in the community....
Three groups challenge church approval Three environmental groups filed suit against San Bernardino County this week, challenging the approval of a Mormon church in Running Springs which they said did not undergo proper environmental review. The suit, filed Tuesday in San Bernardino County Superior Court by the Center for Biological Diversity, San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society and Save Our Forest Association, said the county violated the California Environmental Quality Act by approving the project without conducting an environmental impact report. The groups said the project, a 12,868-square-foot building on 7.71 acres along Highway 18 near Nob Hill Drive, is on fire-prone forest land that is habitat to some rare and endangered species, including the Southern rubber boa and the California spotted owl....
BYU study: Mosquitofish are killing a native Utah fish For decades, thousands of imported mosquitofish have been used to protect Utah County residents from mosquitoes -- and now, West Nile virus. But a new Brigham Young University study says the fish are killing one of Utah's most threatened native fishes, the least chub. Over the past 50 years, least chub, once abundant around Utah, have all but disappeared, said BYU professor of ecology Russ Rader....
NationalParkComplaints.org Launched to Ensure Park Visitors Get Attention of Congress on Park Woes With concerns growing about the conditions in inadequately funded and understaffed U.S. national parks, the Coalition of Concerned National Park Service Retirees (CCNPSR) today launched a new Web site -- http://www.NationalParkComplaints.org -- that allows park visitors to make their gripes known directly to their U.S. House of Representatives member and both Senators. Each complaint letter also will be copied to U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Gale Norton and National Park Service Director Fran Mainella....
Park Service finds rangers didn't break rules The National Park Service’s Internal Affairs Office this week announced its report on the July 28 pepper-spraying of two teenagers in Point Reyes Station has exonerated rangers Roger Mayo and Angelina Gregorio. At present, the Park Service is refusing to make public the report, which summarizes its internal investigation of the rangers, although in August, Point Reyes National Seashore officials assured a community meeting that the report would be released to the public and the press. And while the Park Service said its confidential report exonerated ranger Mayo, it also said he "has been temporarily reassigned, pending further administrative review." That review will be conducted by the Pacific Western Region of the Park Service, which is headquartered in Oakland, and will consist of a "further investigation" into whether Mayo used the correct "procedures" during the events that "led to the pepper-spraying," National Seashore spokesman John Dell’Osso told The Light on Tuesday....
Column: Justice must still wait for a lawsuit It is doubtful that many people who have been closely following the July 28 pepper-spraying case are surprised that a Park Service investigation has now "exonerated" two Park Service rangers. Mind you, these were exonerations for Park Service-personnel purposes. They were not exonerations for legal purposes, no matter how the park’s press announcements phrase it. Even more unfortunate was Neubacher’s attempt to create legal cover for the rangers’ behavior by asking county government to prosecute the victims. There would have been a firestorm at the community meeting had Neubacher revealed what he had done, so he misled the audience (including the public, the press, and Supervisor Kinsey) into believing he had asked for the District Attorney’s Office to investigate the rangers. The ploy was a disaster. When members of the public learned the truth, they were furious. After reviewing the evidence, the DA said neither of the Millers would be prosecuted. No doubt seeing the handwriting on the wall, Neubacher by then was ready to withdraw the National Seashore’s request for prosecutions. "We felt it was the right thing to do towards healing the community," park spokesman Dell’Osso said afterward. Neubacher basically punched the tar-baby, got stuck, and like Brer Rabbit, the more he flailed away, the more stuck he got. In short, this has not been the park superintendent’s finest hour....
Pepper-spraying report called a 'whitewash' An internal investigation that exonerates two federal park rangers for pepper spraying a pair of West Marin teens is "a total whitewash," the teenagers' lawyer said yesterday. Gordon Kaupp, attorney for siblings Chris and Jessica Miller of Inverness Park, said the report shows the National Park Service is incapable of objectively monitoring the conduct of its own rangers. Kaupp said a lawsuit could be filed within weeks....
St. Louis arch lights plan upsets park agency The National Park Service is upset over a plan to illuminate the Gateway Arch in pink Monday in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Spokesman Dave Barna said yesterday the Park Service is opposed not to the cause, but to the precedent it sets for possible future uses of the 630-foot-tall arch, which the agency maintains. ''We consider these monuments sacred sites. The color or the style or the function was all the result of those architects and design. They're pieces of art, and we don't want to see changes, even temporarily."....
Major land exchange gets preliminary approval Utah and federal land managers and environmental groups have struck a preliminary agreement on a 70,000-acre land exchange aimed at protecting land along the Colorado River corridor. If the deal is ultimately approved, it would be the first major land swap since a proposed San Rafael Swell exchange fell apart in 2002 amid allegations that it was a $117 million taxpayer giveaway. “There have been 30,000 to 35,000 acres put on the table by both sides and the swap will eventually be organized from that acreage,” said Dave Hebertson, a spokesman for the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration. The checkerboard of trust lands were set aside in Utah's Constitution with proceeds dedicated to the state's school system. But in many cases the lands held by the administration are surrounded by federal land, making access and development difficult, if not impossible....
Desert group protests Steens management plan The Oregon Natural Desert Association has filed an administrative protest against the Bureau of Land Management on the agency’s final resource management plan for the Steens Mountain/Andrews Resource Area. ONDA raised substantial concerns in the draft resource management plan released last year including the fact that a private consulting company with strong ties to the mining industry was hired to draft the plan—yet the BLM failed to adequately address these issues in its final document....
Fewer hoops for solar power on fed lands The Bush administration Thursday announced new guidelines for streamlining the approval of plans for solar power projects on federal lands. Assistant Interior Secretary Rebecca Watson said in San Francisco the plan would classify solar projects as rights-of-way applications that place them under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management. Watson said the new policy would serve as a framework for land managers who are charged with approving the projects but don't yet have the applications on their desks. Without the new rules, a costly and time-consuming amendment to the particular area's land-use plan would be required....
Agencies meet, talk of desalination The construction of the nation's largest inland desalination plant in El Paso has raised the interest of researchers and thirsty communities across the West. John W. Keys III, the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the keynote speaker Thursday at a conference, said his agency has become deeply involved in helping Western states and communities develop new water sources and squeeze more use out of the water they have. He said desalination can turn billions of gallons of brackish underground water that cities such as El Paso once regarded as useless into an abundant water source for parks, golf courses and yards....
Fighting to recover water Depending on what happens on appeal, a ruling in the Court of Federal Claims here could have far ranging consequences in the decades-long battle of private property rights versus protection of fish and wildlife habitat. "There may be implications for how the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is implemented," said Alf Brandt, the Interior Department attorney who argued the government's case in a losing effort. "There may be implications for how water diversions are made," he added. Judge John Paul Wiese decided that the federal government must pay for the water that it withheld from California farmers in 1992 and 1994. The water was used to help protect endangered winter-run Chinook salmon and threatened delta smelt....
Column: Kerry's Energy Plan Renews Carter's "Hit List" on Western Water In 1977, former President Jimmy Carter compiled what was known as his "hit list" of water projects to eliminate from the Western landscape in America. Today, John Kerry's has an energy plan that would, in effect, renew Carter's contract on the lifeblood of the West. The centerpiece of Senator Kerry's energy plan is renewable and alternative energy development. He pays for this plan by taking existing revenues - paid to the federal government by energy companies that develop resources on America's public lands - and moving them into new research and development trust fund. This sounds good, but has a fatal flaw if you live in the West. Ninety percent of these monies are already dedicated to Western states and an existing account established by Congress under the Reclamation Act of 1902. Known as the Reclamation Fund, these monies pay for the management and delivery of water to 31 million Western citizens, including 140,000 farmers who produce 60 percent of our nation's vegetables and 25 percent of our fruits and nuts. The fund also pays for 58 clean hydroelectric power plants that serve 6 million American homes throughout the West and the oversight of Native American water rights....
Water rights way out West Continuing drought is forcing Montana to assert its rights for water that neighboring Wyoming is now using. "One of our concerns is that Wyoming is taking and using water for uses established after 1950 to the detriment of our uses that were established prior to 1950," explained Rich Moy, chief of Montana's Water Management Bureau. "The economic implications for us are very significant." In short, Montana asserts that it owns senior water rights to the Tongue, Powder and Little Powder rivers, and, as it is throughout the West, whoever has the oldest rights gets first drink....
More rights than water, agency head says It's official: "There are more water rights out there than we have water to fill them," Idaho Department of Water Resources Director Karl Dreher said Wednesday. But he qualified the statement by explaining that at the time the rights were appropriated, Idaho had a limited understanding of how the Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer works. As a result, the water agency did not place conditions on certain rights to accommodate the problem of potential shortages....
Cyclone After roping the antelope B.E. “Cyclone” Denton and his friend, Lem Shipman, just hung around town and like true cowboys, spent most of the money they had. So they decided it was time to go to work. But by this time (early 1880) most of the large trail drives to the East had all but ended. But there was a demand for cattle in Montana to feed the army, which was fighting Indians and protecting settlers traveling through to Oregon and California. Montana was being settled by ranchers because of the open land with good grass. So the boys hired on to a herd of about 2,600 head of Texas Longhorns with an L T brand, headed for that territory....

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NEWS ROUNDUP

'I Don't Think I'll Ever Be The Same Again' The U. S. Forest Service worker, whom everyone presumed was dead after his plane crashed a month ago, is talking about his story of survival for the first time. To see Matt Ramige, 30, walk out of Harborview Medical Center was considered by many a miracle, even to Ramige himself. "I couldn't believe what had happened. I was just glad I survived and amazed I had survived the crash," he said....
Investigative report cites many errors at Carson City’s Waterfall Fire Inadequate briefings, radio problems, “freelancing” supervisors and confusion over who was in charge led to 21 firefighters being trapped and two people burned by a Nevada wildfire, a report said Wednesday. Firefighters and their supervisors broke a number of rules in the initial attack on the Waterfall Fire that destroyed 17 homes and burned nearly 8,000 acres near Carson City in July, an interagency investigation found....
Scientists, economists oppose Bush plan on forests More than 125 scientists, including chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall and biologist Edward O. Wilson, have a signed a letter opposing the Bush administration's plan to reverse a Clinton-era ban on road building and logging in 58 million acres of remote national forests. And in a separate letter, more than 110 economists, including Nobel laureate Kenneth Arrow, also oppose the plan, which would require governors to petition the federal government to block road-building in about a third of national forests where it is now prohibited....
Editorial: Suing over forest fires We're all for holding people accountable, especially those caught purposely setting wildfires. But suing teenagers and Boy Scouts for millions of dollars they don't have seems like a case of bullying to us. It also diverts attention from bigger questions -- like who in the federal government is being held responsible for the short-sighted policy decisions and flawed management practices that turned our national forests into tinderboxes in the first place? And who can the taxpayers sue in order to recover the obscene waste of public resources that resulted from federal mismanagement of the forests? The public shouldn't allow such witch hunts to deflect attention from the wrong-headed policies that helped create such combustible forest conditions in the first place....
Appeals court: Whales have no standing to sue to stop sonar A federal appeals court decided Wednesday that marine mammals have no standing to sue to stop the U.S. Navy from using sonar. In upholding a lower court decision, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the world's cetaceans — whales, porpoises and dolphins — have no standing under the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act or the National Environmental Policy Act. If lawmakers "intended to take the extraordinary step of authorizing animals as well as people and legal entities to sue, they could, and should, have said so plainly," said Judge William A. Fletcher, writing for the panel....
Tentative Alaska Land Swap Raises Drilling Fears U.S. officials on Wednesday announced a tentative land swap that they say would enlarge an Alaska wildlife refuge but that critics charge would open up the area to oil and gas development. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it planned to trade land within the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, an 8.6 million-acre holding in eastern interior Alaska, for wetlands now held by Doyon Ltd., a Fairbanks-based corporation owned by Alaska Athabascan Indians. Doyon, which has drilling operations, seeks 110,000 acres of uplands with potential oil and gas riches and is willing to trade about 150,000 acres of low-lying wetlands for it, the Fish and Wildlife Service said....
Column: Hunting and mental health The Washington Times reports that Earle D. Hightower, chairman of the 27-member Institute for Public Safety — a group concerned with issues such as traffic and air pollution in Rockville, Md. — recently sent out 600 cards to property owners in Garrett County stating that 40 percent of hunters are drug addicts, drunks or mentally unstable. Mr. Hightower, 82, who says he is a former hunter and World War II veteran, was quoted as saying, "My personal opinion is that anybody who goes out and shoots helpless animals has a psychiatric problem." These are the days of fact-checking. As a psychologist, I'd like to report back on my fact-checking....
Mining Royalties: NMA fires back at Edwards National Mining Association is disputing remarks by Elizabeth Edwards during her Elko visit that advertisements saying that Sen. John Kerry wants a mining royalty are a "hoax." At the same time, Kerry's campaign is maintaining that the Democratic presidential hopeful is not planning an 8 percent royalty on mining production. "It's interesting Elizabeth Edwards tried to walk the campaign away from Sen. Kerry's proposal," National Mining Association spokeswoman Carol Raulston said this morning. She said the mining industry based its comments on a proposed Kerry royalty on Kerry's Aug. 9 speech at the Grand Canyon and a speech in April at Georgetown University....
Small diamond found in Montana The bright green rocks jutting through the prairie soil were hard to miss, but Tom Charlton still couldn't believe his eyes. It was kimberlite, the molten rock in which diamonds are found, and preliminary tests had yielded a microscopic diamond. If more are found at the 80-acre site known as the Homestead property, the land could become the state's first-ever commercial diamond operation and the only working diamond mine in the United States, geologists said. Canada currently has the only diamond mines operating in North America....
National Wildlife Federation challenges CRP policy The National Wildlife Federation and six of its state affiliates filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday to stop what they call mismanagement of haying and grazing land included in the nation's Conservation Reserve Program. The wildlife federation alleges that the Farm Service Agency (FSA), the Department of Agriculture division that administers CRP, has violated the program's conservation mandate. The lawsuit accuses the FSA of allowing the haying and grazing of millions of enrolled acres at intervals too frequent to sustain enough grassland cover for nesting birds. The lawsuit also charges the FSA with compromising the program's conservation value in some states by allowing haying and grazing during primary nesting season....
Editorial: How the West is named Congress gave the name "Lake Nighthorse" to the reservoir that will form when the Animas-La Plata project is completed. It is a fitting tribute; no elected official did more to see the water development in southwestern Colorado from idea to construction than Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Colorado's soon-to-retire senior senator. Environmentalists long opposed the Animas-La Plata project, and now some have complained that the naming legislation ignored normal procedures for selecting geographic names - for one thing, the person being honored usually is dead, and Campbell is very much alive. A descendant of a family whose ranch is on the land where the reservoir is planned also objected - he said Campbell had nothing to do with the land. True, but Campbell did have a great deal to do with gaining approval for the water project....
Valley irrigators not backing down from water debt suit Despite the Rio Grande’s watersheds inching toward full capacity, local irrigators who collaboratively filed a suit against the Mexican government say they will not let the healthy water levels deter their cause. The suit, claiming $500 million in economic losses due to the Mexican water debt, will continue and if ignored, the group will file in December for an arbitration hearing, said Gordon Hill, manager for the Bayview Irrigation District — one of the entities backing the suit. Since 1992, Mexico curtailed the amount of water released from its dams on rivers leading into the Rio Grande. Since then, the state estimates that 20,000 agriculture-related jobs were lost due to the scarcity of water, which in turn had a $1 billion impact, according to Hill....
Cattle Killed, Genitals Removed On Western Slope Ranch Authorities are investigating the mutilation and killing of three cows on a small ranch in northwestern Colorado. The two steers and one heifer were killed and had their genitals removed last week but there were no visible marks on the cattle indicating how they were killed, Moffat County sheriff's deputy Courtland Folks said. The state veterinarian has been asked to investigate. "Possibly it could have been done for some type of worship with the organs," Folks said. "It's something that makes livestock owners uncomfortable."....
Oodles of art this weekend in Scottsdale The boots and bandana crowd will be on the streets of Scottsdale tonight and Saturday for the 15th-annual Western ArtWalk Weekend in the area's famed arts district. It celebrates the Western heritage of the "West's Most Western Town," with strolling cowboy musicians such as David Lewis, and artists from the prestigious Cowboys Artists of America who are in town for their annual show on Friday at the Phoenix Art Museum....
In praise of cowboy culture If you were strolling around Sundance Square Wednesday night, you may have thought a rodeo was in town. Natural mistake. The sea of Stetsons, however, belonged to patrons en route to Bass Performance Hall, where The Soul of the West played to a sold-out house. This celebration of the American West was created by singer and cowboy poet Red Steagall, playwright Andy Wilkinson and television actress Anne Lockhart. The one-nighter was a benefit for the Cowboy Heritage Association's fund to provide scholarships for the children of working cowboys. Good causes usually bring out the celebrities, and this lineup was no exception....

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NEWS ROUNDUP

U.S. to Poison Prairie Dogs in South Dakota Wildlife workers have begun a program to poison thousands of prairie dogs in the grasslands of South Dakota to stop them from moving onto private ranch land parched by drought, a federal official said on Tuesday. But in an agreement to settle a lawsuit filed by eight conservation organizations last month, the U.S. Forest Service will spread poison on fewer acres than originally planned and conduct an environmental study to figure out a long-term solution, according to Don Bright, forest supervisor for the Buffalo Gap National Grassland in southwestern South Dakota....
The Coyote Caucus Takes the West to Washington Stewart and his brother Mo (officially Morris) shepherded the region's conservation movement beginning in the 1950s. They also fathered a posse of civic-minded Udalls – 12 children between them – who have influential roles today. A liberal dynasty, the family has been called the Kennedys of the West, minus the money. Most remarkably, Stewart's son, Tom, and Mo's son, Mark, are congressmen, representing the districts surrounding Santa Fe, N.M., and Boulder, Colo., respectively. Both are very active in supporting John Kerry's bid for the White House. Both are also fighting for the preservation of public lands and a balanced, enlightened economic future in the West. In jest, they call themselves the "Udall Caucus" or the "Coyote Caucus."....
Ranchers happy with new grazing policy Central Oregon ranchers had been worried about potential changes to rules governing grazing on federal land. But a new plan for the Crooked River National Grassland only tweaks current grazing practices. The plan aims to leave more grass on the range, which means more habitat for wild animals and more feed for livestock. The Forest Service, working with ranchers, designed a three-part strategy to achieve that goal....
Editorial: Big gifts make big difference It's always fun to open a national magazine and see a story about somebody from your home town. But most Helenans who read Newsweek's article last week about Bud and Dolly McMaster's sale of their 5,600-acre ranch near the Missouri River to the Conservation Fund didn't know at the time that the McMasters were doing a lot more than preserving open space. It turns out the brother and sister also have donated millions of dollars to the St. Peter's Hospital Foundation. For the past seven years the family has anonymously donated more than $5.2 million, including a $1 million gift to the Broadwater Health Center in Townsend....
Bird deaths near site of poisoning prompt probe Federal law enforcement officials are investigating the deaths of three horned larks found near an area where a state contractor had placed prairie dog poison north of Badlands National Park. Killing the horned larks, even unintentionally, could violate the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, according to Robert Prieksat of Pierre, a law enforcement officer with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Horned larks migrate south for the winter. Art Smith of the state Game, Fish & Parks Department, who is overseeing state prairie dog poisoning on private land near the federal grassland, said state crews are following federal rules for using the prairie dog poison zinc phosphide....
Road's status raises questions - is it another Jarbridge? Jack Creek Road, an old stagecoach route nestled in the Independence Mountain range, has the potential to ignite another controversy similar to the long-running dispute over the South Canyon Road. Not much attention has been paid in the past to the 15-mile long road except by outdoor recreationists and a mining company that has since abandoned any activity. Not any more. Jack Creek Road is now the focus of a potential struggle that revisits the question of federal vs. county ownership. At the heart of the controversy is whether Elko County should accept a U.S. Forest Service easement for the road....
9th Circuit blocks Tongass road construction In a split decision, a federal appeals court on Tuesday blocked construction of new roads that were to be part of a Tongass National Forest timber sale. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledged that a mill in the area faced a risk of closure, but said environmental groups were not required to abandon their rights on the mill's account. "The road-building activities will cause an immediate and irreparable change to the part of the now-roadless old-growth forest that would be affected by the challenged timber sale," the majority wrote....
Protection Sought for Rare Columbian Bird Environmentalists asking for federal protection of the Columbian sharp-tailed grouse say the bird is in danger of becoming extinct, in part because its native habitat across the West is being lost to livestock grazing and agriculture. In a petition filed Oct. 14, a coalition of environmentalists asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the grouse under the Endangered Species Act. The groups, led by Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians, argue that what was once the most abundant gallinaceous bird in the Intermountain West has been reduced to a population of less than 60,000. Gallinaceous birds nest on the ground and include turkeys, chickens and pheasants....
Bird decline blamed on habitat losses The feathered creatures winging across North America have an obvious gift that land-bound humans lack, but their survival is threatened by earthly concerns. Almost 30 percent of bird populations on the continent are facing a "significant decline," The National Audubon Society said in its first "The State of the Birds" report Tuesday. The group studied data from 1966 to 2003 for 654 bird species that live in grasslands, shrublands, forests, waterways and urban settings....
Rifle man killed in mule wagon accident A Rifle man was killed last week in a mule wagon accident on Bureau of Land Management property northwest of Rifle Gap. LeRoy Schroeder, 54, became trapped in a homemade mule cart as he gathered wood while working as a guide for some hunters, according to reports....
Cave looter charged with paying to have judge, informant killed Former insurance agent Jack Harelson maintained he did nothing wrong when he excavated an ancient American Indian grave site in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. Now he faces charges he paid $10,000 in opals in an attempt to have the judge, chief investigator and an informant in the case murdered....
Push to rename Powell going down the drain After receiving an unprecedented amount of public opposition - a stack of petitions and letters weighing more than 13 pounds - a federal panel is expected today to soundly reject a proposal to change the name of Lake Powell to Glen Canyon Reservoir. Proponents of changing the name of the body of water behind Glen Canyon Dam along the Utah-Arizona border argued that calling it a "lake" does not accurately define its birthright and that the Lake Powell moniker duplicates the name of a small natural lake on a Colorado peak that drains into the same watershed. But staff to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names say that, in discussions before today's session in Florida, board members determined neither of those arguments was significant enough to warrant renaming the internationally recognized recreation oasis on the Colorado Plateau, christened for frontier explorer John Wesley Powell....
West gains $1.1 billion in royalties The Rocky Mountain West collected a $1.1 billion windfall this year for its share of energy and minerals production on federal lands. Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah were the big winners in a program that distributes income from energy and mining leases on federal property. Montana also fared well. Rising energy prices and increased production of oil and natural gas contributed to the payout in the West from the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service in fiscal 2004....
Column: Can the sports and the greens find common ground? Bart Semcer—hunter, angler, gun owner, and National Rifle Association member—delivered an important message to the Outdoor Writers Association of America at its annual conference in June of this year. He told them it was time for sporting conservation groups like Trout Unlimited and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to join hands with his employer for the betterment of fish, wildlife, and the habitat animals and humans depend on for healthy, happy lives. “We’re natural allies,” he told his audience. That simple statement was an attention-getter for one reason: Semcer is the Sierra Club’s representative for fish and wildlife policy in Washington, D.C. And his message was more than just words: It was backed up with a plan called the Natural Allies Initiative, which is designed to create partnerships between the Birkenstock set and the hook-and-bullet crowd. In fact, the 700,000-member Sierra Club was a cosponsor of a 2003 national symposium on the future of hunting, right alongside the Boone and Crockett Club and the Safari Club....
Supreme Court tackles Tenmile debate After 14 years, several court hearings and hundreds of pages of documents, the battle over the rights to Tenmile Creek's water will come to a head on Jan. 7, 2005. Seven Oregon Supreme Court justices will hear the case in Salem, putting an end to a debate that simmered between Lakeside and the Coos Bay-North Bend Water Board long before spiraling into a statewide fight. This isn't about thirsty communities or even who owns today's water. This is about the right of governments to lock up water supplies, though they have no plans, immediate need - or possible way - of taking advantage of the flows....

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All Vesicular Stomatitis (VS) Quarantines Released in Texas (pdf)

For the first time since May 19, Texas has no animals or herds restricted because of Vesicular Stomatitis (VS), a blistering disease that can temporarily debilitate affected equine animals, cattle, goats, deer, swine or other susceptible species. VS occurs every few years in the Southwest, and the virus is thought to be transmitted by sand flies and black flies. Animals affected by the disease usually begin to heal several weeks after exhibiting blisters, sloughing of skin or sores in and around the mouth, above the hooves, or on the muzzle or teats. Dr. Hillman said that releasing the last VS quarantine in the state will make it easier to ship Texas livestock to other states. He recommended, however, that producers and private veterinary practitioners continue to check with states of destination prior to transporting animals, to ensure all entry requirements are met....

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NEWS ROUNDUP

Shale's new hope A stretch of private land 200 miles west of Denver, between the towns of Rangely, Rifle and Meeker, is home to an ambitious research project that - if successful - could reduce the United States' dependence on foreign oil. Energy giant Shell, which owns the property, is using it for an experimental technology to extract oil from shale formations. Although the project, called Mahogany, was rejuvenated four years ago, the company says it will be 2010 before it makes a commercial decision. Shell is not alone. A host of energy companies are revisiting technologies to recover shale oil, plans put on the back burner 30 years ago because of extremely high capital costs. But now they're seen as viable alternatives to buying pricey foreign crude oil....
Column: Surrender to Wildfire Federal and state forests long have practiced "Let It Burn" natural fire management, especially popular during the Clinton administration. No fire road cutting, no clearing of diseased, dead trees, no disturbing natural habitat. In San Diego, no aerial drops of fire retardant are allowed on land or buildings within 300 feet of water. Why? Retardant might pollute the water that might poison fish and aquatic plants. A few days before San Diego erupted in fire, the United States Forestry Service's Environmental Ethicists brought suit in Missoula, Montana, to prevent aerial firefighting drops of fire retardant chemicals and to prohibit bulldozing of fire-breaks near animals and plants protected under the Endangered Species Act. Firefighters would be obliged to get permits for spraying retardant from the Environmental Protection Agency and for bulldozing, from the Army Corps of Engineers.....
Automated cameras spot jaguars in Southern Arizona Automated cameras have filmed at least two jaguars creeping across Southern Arizona since late August, offering fresh evidence that the endangered cats at least visit here from Mexico. The jaguars' full bodies and unmistakable spotted coats are visible in all four of the nighttime shots, taken near the border, south of Tucson, in oak woodlands. It's still unclear if the secretive species is residing permanently in the United States....
Refuge leaders call Bison Range tribal management plan flawed Twenty-three career wildlife refuge managers in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have studied a proposal to allow the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes to jointly manage the National Bison Range at Moiese and its associated wildlife refuges on the Flathead Reservation. Their conclusion, in a letter released to the public Monday: The annual funding agreement drafted by the tribes, the Department of the Interior and the Fish and Wildlife Service is fatally flawed because it separates the responsibility of managing the Bison Range from the authority to do so....
Feds OK'd biblical Grand Canyon book? An organization representing public employees that opposes the presence of a biblical book on the Grand Canyon in National Park Service bookstores contends the federal government has approved the resource despite claims by the agency the matter is still under review. As WorldNetDaily reported, a controversy began brewing in January over the book, "Grand Canyon: A Different View" by veteran Colorado River guide Tom Vail, which claims the Grand Canyon was formed by the Old Testament flood Noah survived and can be no older than a few thousand years. That contention caused some scientists to call for the book to be pulled from shelves of the Grand Canyon's gift shops. Most geologists contend the canyon is millions of years old....
Man seeks Supreme Court review of law protecting Indian sacred site case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court charges federal officials with violating the Constitution by protecting a mountain range located on Navajo land. The case stems from a 1999 incident when Earl DeWall visited the Rainbow Bridge National Monument in southern Utah, an area located on the tip of Navajo land and just a few miles from the Arizona border. Since 1995, the U.S. Park Service had installed signs at the monument to prevent visitors from walking under or near the world's largest natural arch....
Measure would undo ban on mining Initiative 147, repealing a voter-approved ban on the use of cyanide in gold and silver mining, has a high profile at the Fort Belknap reservation because of the Zortman-Landusky gold mine complex on its southern border. Acid-mine drainage from the abandoned cyanide operation is the top environmental issue for the reservation's Assiniboine and Gros Ventre tribes. For some of Montana's voters, I-147 is a referendum on the mining industry itself. Supporters say passage would encourage new mining, with its high-paying jobs, and the cyanide process can be used without environmental damage. Opponents resent corporate efforts to undo what voters approved in 1998, and say cyanide contaminates water, harms neighboring property and leaves taxpayers on the hook for cleanup....
BLM closes 2 trails to motorized use The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has closed two trails to motorized use on the Bighorn Mountains' western slope because horses with people on them have been startled by all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles. The Cottonwood Creek and Petes Canyon Trail remain open to hikers, skiers, mountain bikers and horse riders, according to the BLM. "In one case, some motorcyclists came upon a group of horseback riders rather suddenly," said Shirley Bye-Jech, BLM outdoor recreation specialist....
Column, Under siege: the wonders of the West You couldn’t ask for a more scenic oil well than the Long Canyon facility in southeastern Utah. In fact, if it weren’t for the stench of petroleum fumes, and the constant up-and-down whir of the pump jack, you might be tempted to disregard it altogether in favour of the breathtaking vista it affords across a layered red rock landscape out towards the ancient geological splendours of Arches National Park. As it is, it sits like a great sore on the landscape, bleeding toxins into the ground, slowly killing off the ancient junipers that provide ground cover on the otherwise unforgiving desert terrain, and blowing ozone-depleting gas byproducts directly into the air....
On energy and environment, a vast divide Nothing highlights the ideological differences on energy and the environment between George W. Bush and John F. Kerry as starkly as the black coal that fuels more than 50 percent of the nation's electricity. Coal, including millions of tons extracted from the swing states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, is poised to make a renaissance in America as natural gas and oil prices spike. The federal government estimates it will need more than 100 new coal-fired power plants by 2025 to keep up with electricity demand....
Schwarzenegger unveils action plan to protect Calif coast Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a plan to protect Pacific waters off the state's coast that seeks to make California a national leader in ocean conservation. The plan, called Protecting Our Ocean: California's Action Strategy, outlines a series of legislative actions, studies and state programs aimed at restoring the state's coastline and coastal waters to benefit the environment, recreation and the economy. The plan only offers $12.5 million in new funding so far, but calls on state agencies to devise ways to finance new projects.....
Wind war
It is a battle of two visions - one that protects the scenic foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains and the other that harnesses the area's wind energy. The issue is a proposed 1,800-acre wind farm on the blustery ridgelines and pristine desert floor between Cabazon and Palm Springs. The main landowner has dreamed of using nature's power near the village of Snow Creek for decades. But conservation groups say wind turbines would harm wildlife and a fragile ecosystem. Locals worry the towering blades could ruin the scenic gateway to the Coachella Valley....
It's All Trew: Victorian era marked by colorful confusion Early eastern settlers in America lived in dreary log cabins with rock fireplaces and dirt floors. The only color came occasionally in cloth brought from Europe as homespun clothes were drab grays or shades of brown. Spring flowers also brought color to their lives. The early Spanish settlement in America was similar with the people living in adobe structures, rock houses or dugouts. Later, the plains settlers lived in soddies built of grass and dirt slabs plowed from the virgin prairies. Again, there was almost no color other than those provided by nature at certain times of the year. Very little paint was available for sale in stores until after the Civil War ended and it was considered too costly for the average settler. School officials and barn owners often painted the buildings red because it was the most plentiful and the cheapest paint available....

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WESTERN STATES WATER COUNCIL NEWSLETTER NO. 1587

LITIGATION/WATER QUALITY
Citizen Suits/Clean Water Act

On September 30, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment held a hearing on the question: “Are Citizen Suit Provisions of the Clean Water Act Being Misused?” The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, or Clean Water Act (CWA), regulates the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters of the United States through permits issued under the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). Most states have been delegated authority to issue NPDES permits, which typically contain effluent standards and limits, as well as monitoring and reporting requirements. A state or the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may take enforcement action for any failure to comply with the conditions of a permit, and may impose administrative, civil, or criminal penalties.
Moreover, CWA Section 505 also allows a citizen who has an interest in, or may be adversely affected by the discharge of pollutants, to commence a civil action or “citizen suit” against any person, governmental instrumentality, or even the United States for alleged violations of, among other things, any NPDES permit conditions. While citizen suits appear to have been intended as a “safety net” should regulatory agencies fail to enforce the CWA, there are allegations such suits have been “misused.” Citizen suits are supposedly barred where a state or EPA: (1) is concurrently maintaining an action over the same alleged violations; (2) is “diligently prosecuting” a civil or criminal action regarding the same violations; (3) has commenced an administrative action to assess penalties; or (4) where EPA or a state has issued a final order not subject to further judicial review and the alleged violator has paid a penalty. According to a 1971 Senate Report (92-414), citizen suits are proper only “...if the Federal, State, and local agencies fail to exercise their... responsibility.”
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Gwaltney of Smithfield v. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, stated in 1987 that the CWA’s limitations on citizen suits in Sections 505 and 309 “...suggests that the citizen suit is meant to supplement rather than to supplant governmental action.” Still, a number of federal circuit court of appeals decisions are not uniform on the question of whether or not a state enforcement action and order always bars a citizen suit. Concerns have also been raised that some citizen suits do little or nothing to improve water quality, because the suits involve violations that are already being addressed by a governmental enforcement action, or are brought for violations that can be characterized as minor, sporadic or technical. In California, numerous third party lawsuits have been brought against many communities alleging CWA violations, even though state regulators may have already taken enforcement action. While a state, including California, may institute a timely action to bar such a citizen suit, they have not always done so. The Committee addressed these concerns.
Mr. Christopher Westhoff, Los Angeles Assistant City Attorney and Public Works General Counsel testified on behalf of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies (AMSA) and 300 agencies. He said, “Today, permitted dischargers like my City, in California and across the country, routinely suffer the indignity, negative publicity, and substantial financial burden of having to respond to third party lawsuits brought by environmental activist groups for substantially the same violations addressed in prior enforcement actions by our regulators.... No one is asking that citizen suits go away... [but] where Congress’ intended prime Clean Water Act enforcer has done or is doing its job, municipalities need protection from redundant lawsuits.”....

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NEWS ROUNDUP

Water and wilderness While the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act marks a long period of environmental management, many questions remain about how the act is preserving water and keeping the designated areas "untrammeled by man." But the question of the act's success, especially in how water is managed in the wilderness areas, remains. About 14 percent of water runoff in the contiguous United States land area comes from National Forest lands, much of it collecting as snow on some of the 106 million acres of formally designated wilderness land. Many of these areas are situated in the headwaters of major drainages that provide water -the U.S. Forest Service estimates the water is worth about $3.7 billion annually - to downstream cities and metropolitan areas like Denver, whose residents receive water from transcontinental pipes pushing water from the wilderness-dominated Western Slope....
'Out of whack' forests require year-round work to avoid wildfire Snow dusts the San Juan Mountains, hunting season is in full swing, and fire season is over with hardly a whimper. So why are there 18 thinning projects and prescribed burns either planned or under way - right now - in the forests surrounding Pagosa Springs, Durango and Dolores, covering some 5,000 acres? It's because wildfire is never far from the thoughts of Western foresters, who know the next catastrophic burn is one dry spell, and one lightning strike, away....
A 'patchy mosiac' In Colorado and across the West, natural fires historically swept through ponderosa pine forests every 15 to 35 years, burning up litter, needles and limbs, and killing young vegetation coming up. The large trees, with their thick, fire-resistant bark, survived. "Over time, as people have moved in and wanted fires suppressed, those fires haven't occurred," said Denny Truesdale, assistant to the deputy chief for state and private forestry for the U.S. Forest Service. Hence, the dense - and dangerous - forests we have today. "The historical forest would have had almost no places where you couldn't see through the woods for some distance." said Forest Service Research Forest Ecologist Merrill Kaufmann of the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins....
The business of thinning But Stone is no logger, in spite of the fact he expects to create some 70,000 stumps before he and his crew are done working along the eastern shore of Vallecito Reservoir, north of Bayfield. His company, Stone Forest Services, received a contract from the U.S. Forest Service to thin 160 acres along the reservoir, transforming the dense forest into the open woodlands forest officials say would be there had fires not been suppressed for the last hundred years or so. "It's a true forest-restoration project, an overall thinning for ponderosa pine health," Stone said....
Homeowners urged to create defensible space Firefighters sometimes find themselves frustrated by dream homes built in the best places, only to see them destroyed by wildfire - at the tops of wooded ridges, for example. Fires love to burn upslope. To make matters worse, many homeowners resist creating a defensible space around their houses, which means clearing out trees and brush in a radius of up to 200 feet. That's not what they had in mind for their homes in the woods. But it's what firefighters need....
Saving Big Sur/Why California's prized coastline is at risk Big Sur is one of the most famous and recognizable landscapes in the world. In 1542 Spanish explorer Juan Cabrillo sailed along Big Sur and recorded this simple but elegant description of the area: "There are mountains which seem to reach to the heavens, and the sea beats on them." Sam Farr, who represents Big Sur in Congress, says it is the greatest and most accessible meeting of wilderness and water in the world. But this magnificent coastline faces a series of unprecedented challenges. How these challenges are met will shape Big Sur for decades to come....
Forest Service approves five-year helicopter skiing permit The Forest Service has approved another five-year permit for a helicopter skiing company to operate in the Wasatch Range and nearby mountains. The permit signed Friday by supervisors of the Uinta and Wasatch-Cache national forests allows Wasatch Powerbird Guides to run helicopters and drop skiiers off on certain ridges from Weber Canyon in the north to Hobble Creek Canyon in the south....
Timber industry, mill workers cry foul over voters drive Patagonia Inc., an upscale outdoor gear-maker and clothier, is under fire from the timber industry and a mill workers' union for a $300,000 drive to register Western voters who have spent past election days camping, kayaking or climbing instead of casting a ballot. The ad campaign, with testimonials and vivid photographs depicting damage to the outdoors, urges nature lovers to turn their environmental enthusiasm into political participation to help protect the nation's forests, streams and wildlife. But a timber industry group is taking exception to a stark photograph it says the giant outdoor company is using to misrepresent the big picture — an image of a "nasty clearcut" shot in 1983 in Canada. "They are trying to shut down the U.S. timber industry by using a photo from Canada," said Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council in Portland, Ore. "They are using a Canadian forestry operation to fearmonger in the U.S. election."....
Federal law on mining not so simple Small-scale miners and large companies must adhere to a multitude of regulations and laws that vary according to whether the prospectors are on Bureau of Land Management Land or National Forest System land. In Dan and April Moore's case, the U.S. Forest Service has authority regarding surface land management. U.S. Forest Service District Ranger John Borton notified the Moores in an April 9, 2004, letter that they were out of compliance with federal regulations, citing sections of both the 228s for not submitting a plan of operations and the 261s for residing on the claim longer than allowed by the Forest Service without authorization. He also provided the Moores with copies of the pertinent regulations - Section 261.10. However, a nugget of text at the beginning of the 261s that identifies the scope of the rules reads: "261.1 ... (b) Nothing in this part shall preclude activities as authorized by the Wilderness Act of 1964 or the U.S. Mining Laws Act of 1872 as amended." Therein lies the rub: Miners claim forest rangers have overstepped their bounds....
The politics of public land-use create a sticky debate Other small-scale prospectors and many small industries that rely on fish, trees or minerals also are feeling the pinch between two giants in the natural resources fight: environmental groups on one side and large corporations on the other. The small-scale users are the unwilling victims of changes made during different federal administrations - restrictions made tighter during administrations leaning toward environmental protection, such as during Clinton's tenure, and relaxed during administrations that focus more on other issues rather than the environment. But while political debates over public lands use wend their way through the courts and Washington, D.C., channels, rangers in the U.S. Forest Service try to strike a balance between the needs of all public users, including miners. Prospectors, however, remain steadfast in their determination to exercise their rights to live on their claims in the public forests of the West....
Highlands act will provide $100M to preservation efforts A bill that will provide $100 million over 10 years to help purchase and preserve some of the last wild lands in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains -- including portions of 750,000 acres in Pennsylvania -- unanimously passed the U.S. Senate Tuesday. Called the Highlands Conservation Act, the bill closely resembles a similar one passed in the U.S. House of Representatives late last year. It will provide federal matching funds to land preservation efforts in a 2 million-acre swath of roughly contiguous forest that stretches from the Pennsylvania/Maryland border, through New Jersey and New York and into northwestern Connecticut....
Standoff in Congress Blocks Action on Environmental Bills For another year, the confluence of partisan tensions, ideological differences, regional conflicts and interest group politics has blocked action on key environmental legislation including reducing air pollution and protecting endangered species, according to lawmakers, advocates and academics. Some analysts warn that the long-standing impasse is reaching a crisis point, as some federal programs are running low on funds and public health threats such as asthma and respiratory problems and pollution of lakes and streams are rising. The stalemate has prompted the Bush administration to resolve environmental questions through changes in federal regulations, effectively leaving Congress on the sidelines. "We are in a stalemate," said House Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.)....
Election dominated by big issues worries environmentalists, industry Since Oregonians last voted for president, the state has endured the West's hardest fought Water Wars, one of the nation's worst salmon die-offs and the most ravaging wildfire in its recorded history. And in the wake of the 2001-02 Klamath Basin water crisis and the Biscuit Fire of 2002, President Bush's water, salmon and forest policies have drawn praise from resource-using industries, and scorn from environmentalists and Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Although the Pacific Northwest's natural-resource policies are driven by the White House, Oregon voters find themselves judging Bush and Kerry largely by the same measurements used by the rest of the country: Iraq, terrorism and the economy....
Quail releases halted as success eludes 2-decade program Biologists have released more than 25,000 masked bobwhite quail here since 1985, when the federal government bought a ranch for nearly $9 million and booted cows from the grasslands south of Three Points. But within a year of being set free, more than 90 percent of the endangered birds are dead, most of them picked off by hawks. Today, 100 to 200 of the quail survive in the wild. Now, with the refuge's manager for its first 19 years deposed over allegations he illegally moved frogs, officials have decided to halt releases of the quail so they can figure out what's going wrong....
Flats deer hunt raises concerns: Two animals test positive for traces of radioactive elements To eat or not to eat - that is the question hunters may face one day if they are allowed to hunt deer at the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering a controlled hunt for youth hunters and disabled adults a few weekends a year to help manage the number of deer on the 6,500-acre former nuclear weapons plant, south of Boulder. Mark Sattelberg, a senior contaminants biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Rocky Flats, said last week that there are about 140 mule deer and 12 white-tails that permanently stay on the site. To ensure that eating venison from the site would be safe, the service randomly culled 26 deer from the buffer zone around the weapons production area earlier this year....
A call for works program to help restore nation's parks A proposal to revive the Civilian Conservation Corps, a successful public works program created in 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is gaining support from retired members of the National Park Service. The original program, commonly known as the CCC, put 3 million unemployed men, 18 to 25 years old, to work during the Depression. An enrollee had to be single, physically fit, and sign up for six months. The work was largely manual labor in forestry, conservation, and the construction of park facilities such as campgrounds. In exchange, he was housed, fed, clothed, and paid $30 per month, with $25 going home to a dependant. The 21st-century version, as the Coalition of Concerned National Park Service Retirees envisions it, would tackle the $6 billion maintenance backlog at federal parks, monuments, and historic sites....
Electric enforcement: Rangers use Tasers to make parks safer Tasers, which have become increasingly popular in metropolitan police departments, are now finding a place among rangers in a handful of national parks. Yellowstone began buying them about a year ago and now has enough for each officer during each shift. Rick Obernesser, Yellowstone's chief ranger, said park officials began looking seriously at Tasers after departments using them experienced dramatic decreases in injuries for officers and suspects. Eventually, Yellowstone officials hope to buy enough Tasers for each of the 100 or so permanent and seasonal rangers....
Land in conflict The Ebertses have been to the brink of a sale and back again, more than once. They have faced down criticism from other ranchers, who say it's not a good idea to take a private ranch out of the economy. They say the ranching tradition is the big loser in the equation.Others said making the ranch into public land would impair oil development, hunting and grazing and county tax revenue. Most recently, the Billings County Commission issued notice that it plans to take a road on the Eberts ranch for a river crossing, an action the Ebertses say is intended to interfere with the locally unpopular sale and follows the county's own criticism of the idea....
Some outdoormen to consider backing Kerry --Bob Elderkin's vote would appear to be a sure bet for President Bush on Nov. 2. He is a hunter, part of a conservative-leaning group of outdoorsmen that is 38 million strong and avidly supports gun rights. But after backing Bush in 2000, Elderkin and some like-minded outdoorsmen say the Republican won't get their vote again because of his environmental policies. Sid Evans, editor of Field & Stream magazine, said American sportsmen are divided on the president's environmental policies, finding themselves torn in some cases between the GOP's Second Amendment backing and a push to make more public land available for energy development....
Column: Time for a reality check on natural drilling Critics of natural gas development on public lands consistently fail to address the ultimate goal of these programs - to provide the energy that powers our lives. More than half of our electricity comes from coal-fired power plants. But today, natural gas is replacing coal in a majority of new plants, increasing efficiency and decreasing pollution. This is good news, yet proposals to produce natural gas on public lands have been met with stiff criticism from the very people who press for clean air....
Column: Cappuccino vs. the cowboys Welcome to the Cappuccino West, where cowboys and loggers are giving way to artists, writers, high-tech entrepreneurs and retirees - where a town like Nevada City, once known for its booming gold mines and rowdy redneck bars, now boasts art galleries, theaters and circuit design labs. Parts of the West are shifting from resource-based rural economies to those that are recreation-and service-based. Refugees from the cities are settling in cultural centers like Nevada City and Sedona, Ariz., and in recreational playgrounds like Aspen, Colo., and Bend, Ore. These rural immigrants are reinventing local economies with new ideas and non-traditional businesses. And they typically take a very different view of the resources - the land, the rivers and forests - that have long been the backbone of the rural West's economy....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: Cowboys offer all-purpose excuse: I messed up Even when you have good intentions, it is possible to make a complete wreck of the situation. It is normal to cast about for something to blame, i.e., "The horse ducked his head." "I hit a pothole." "I thought it said two pounds!" "She was leaning on me." "The light was bad." "I always do it that way!" As my disasters have accumulated over the years, I have finally realized that sometimes I just mess up. It's the truth, and who can argue with it?....

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OPINION/COMMENTARY

Global Warming Bombshell

Progress in science is sometimes made by great discoveries. But science also advances when we learn that something we believed to be true isn’t. When solving a jigsaw puzzle, the solution can sometimes be stymied by the fact that a wrong piece has been wedged in a key place. In the scientific and political debate over global warming, the latest wrong piece may be the “hockey stick,” the famous plot (shown below), published by University of Massachusetts geoscientist Michael Mann and colleagues. This plot purports to show that we are now experiencing the warmest climate in a millennium, and that the earth, after remaining cool for centuries during the medieval era, suddenly began to heat up about 100 years ago--just at the time that the burning of coal and oil led to an increase in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide. But now a shock: Canadian scientists Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick have uncovered a fundamental mathematical flaw in the computer program that was used to produce the hockey stick. In his original publications of the stick, Mann purported to use a standard method known as principal component analysis, or PCA, to find the dominant features in a set of more than 70 different climate records. But it wasn’t so. McIntyre and McKitrick obtained part of the program that Mann used, and they found serious problems. Not only does the program not do conventional PCA, but it handles data normalization in a way that can only be described as mistaken.... Thanks to The Commons for the link

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OPINION/COMMENTARY

The Ethics and Economics of Private Property

In the history of social and political thought, various proposals have been advanced as a solution to the problem of social order, and this variety of mutually inconsistent proposals has contributed to the fact that today’s search for a single “correct” solution is frequently deemed illusory. Yet as I will try to demonstrate, a correct solution exists; hence, there is no reason to succumb to moral relativism. The solution has been known for hundreds of years, if not for much longer. [1] In modern times this old and simple solution was formulated most clearly and convincingly by Murray N. Rothbard. [2] Let me begin by formulating the solution – first for the special case represented by the Garden of Eden and subsequently for the general case represented by the “real” world of all-around scarcity – and then proceed to the explanation of why this solution, and no other, is correct. In the Garden of Eden, the solution is provided by the simple rule stipulating that everyone may place or move his own body wherever he pleases, provided only that no one else is already standing there and occupying the same space. And outside of the Garden of Eden, in the realm of all-around scarcity the solution is provided by this rule: Everyone is the proper owner of his own physical body as well as of all places and nature-given goods that he occupies and puts to use by means of his body, provided that no one else has already occupied or used the same places and goods before him. This ownership of “originally appropriated” places and goods by a person implies his right to use and transform these places and goods in any way he sees fit, provided that he does not thereby forcibly change the physical integrity of places and goods originally appropriated by another person. In particular, once a place or good has been first appropriated, in John Locke’s words, by “mixing one’s labor” with it, ownership in such places and goods can be acquired only by means of a voluntary – contractual – transfer of its property title from a previous to a later owner....

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OPINION/COMMENTARY

Smog Hits a Record Low

2004 has had the lowest ozone smog levels since states began measuring the stuff back in the 1970s. Based on preliminary data from around the country, days exceeding EPA's tough new 8-hour ozone standard declined an average of about 50 percent below 2003, which was itself a record year.[1] A combination of continuing emission reductions and favorable weather explains the improvements. Weather is the single largest factor affecting year-to-year variations in smog levels. All else equal, cool, wet, and windy years will have less ozone than warm, dry, and calm ones. But weather is only part of the story. During the last 30 years most of the country has had several years that were cooler and/or wetter than 2004, but never have smog levels been anywhere near this low....

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OPINION/COMMENTARY

Threats to Hunting

Today the United States, more than any other nation, displays a 200-year record in this regard in the history of man. Where else have common men been able to own and sell and trade guns and traps freely? Where else has a nation proclaimed that fish and wildlife belonged to ALL the people? Where else could the sons and daughters of factory workers get permission from neighbors to trap furbearers to sell for cash to make fine garments for others? Where else can a taxi-driver put in for an elk permit and get one before a Wall Street stockbroker? Where else are their government agencies working to assure a diverse fish and wildlife community that provides for birdwatchers as well as providing venison steaks and wild roasting ducks for everyone? The answer to all of these things together is nowhere else. Think of what is arrayed against us. National organizations that vow to eliminate not only hunting, fishing, and trapping but also animal ownership, animal use, logging, ranching, farming, guns, and even the concept of private property. Federal and (increasingly) State agencies bent on controlling all property and human activities. Just last night a California lady talked to me in tears about an isolated rural friend in the Mojave Preserve who is being harassed and driven off her property by a National Park Service using the despicable tactics of Nazi thugs. There is an international community that both fears and envies our freedoms and strength and wants to drag us down to their levels of socialism where hunting, guns, and property are only dispensed by the State to the powerful....

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OPINION/COMMENTARY

Government grabbing homes – who'll be next?

Government is authorized to take private property by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution for "public use" – not for public benefit. What is legitimate "public use"? Pretty good guidelines are offered in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution: "... forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings. ..." If government remains empowered to take private property for whatever it perceives to be a public benefit, the concept of private property will vanish; the United States will be no different from a communist nation where government decides how all property must be used. Take, for example, the Everglades Restoration Project in South Florida. Government has taken thousands of acres of private property, uprooting hundreds of private owners, to develop a project, not for government use, but which government says will result in a public benefit. The so-called benefit being the restoration of the Everglades to its "natural" condition....

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OPINION/COMMENTARY

Environment 9/11

In December 2003, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote "Crimes Against Nature," an extensive, sharply worded assault in Rolling Stone magazine on the Bush administration's environmental record, which Kennedy called "a ferocious three-year attack" on environmental protection. Under President Bush's leadership, Kennedy Charged, "corporate cronyism" was "strangling democracy and devouring our national treasures." The article was shocking — shocking, that is, in its inaccuracies and ad hominem attacks. It was astounding that a professional environmental lawyer and sometime environmental-law professor who, by his own account, had his work "rigorously fact-checked," could produce such a vitriolic and error-laden piece. Eight months later, Kennedy's article has become a book — and his attack has not improved with age. More time and more pages have only produced more errors and exaggerations. Kennedy's thesis remains the same: "Our president is engaged in the radical destruction of 30 years of environmental law." Worse, America under the Bush administration is, in Kennedy's estimation, comparable to Europe at the time of rising fascism in the 1930s. The author insists that readers can find documentation of over 300 Bush "rollbacks" of environmental protection in the work of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), yet several of his claims are contradicted on NRDC's own website. For instance, Kennedy claims that Bush has "rolled back" federal vehicle fuel-efficiency standards, while the NRDC website notes that the administration actually proposed a "minor increase." Similarly, Kennedy blames the mining industry for arsenic in drinking water, yet the NRDC website notes that much arsenic contamination comes from natural deposits. Other sourcing is sloppy, and some of the most inflammatory charges lack citations at all....Thanks to The Commons for the link

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OPINION/COMMENTARY

EPA Official Predicts Federal Regulation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

On the same day Vice President Cheney reminded us of the jobs saved by the Administration's brave stance in rejecting artificial restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions, another administration official yesterday pulled the rug from under his feet by suggesting such restrictions are inevitable. Those remarks by Jeff Holmstead are a slap in the face for coal miners and auto workers across the nation. Greenhouse gas restrictions will mean seniors pay more for their heat in the winter, families pay more for transportation and business owners pay more in energy costs. Not only that, but they will do virtually nothing to abate a rise in temperature which may prove beneficial anyway. Rather than waving a white flag to the energy suppression lobby (whose former standard bearer was Enron, we should not forget), Holmstead should have focused on ways to strengthen the world economy. That way, if global warming does prove to be a problem, we will have little to worry about. We've seen how resilient America has been to four hurricanes this year. We should be trying to make the rest of the world as strong as America rather than weakening America by engaging in futile attempts to change the weather....

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OPINION/COMMENTARY

CITES: UN-reasonable, UN-wise, UN-sanctioned

Thirty-three thousand: That’s the estimated number of plants and animals protected under the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES). Mind-boggling as that amount may seem, it’s sure to increase by Oct. 14, the end of a 12-day Bangkok conference of CITES’ participating nations that includes discussion of adding 50 species to the protections list. While protecting endangered species is a noble endeavor, every protective measure incurs costs that must be weighed against the desired outcome. The treaty purports to address environmental concerns, mainly through developed world funding. Most endangered species are in the developing-world countries, whose governments generally support a “sustainable use” agenda. However, such policies end up being a tremendous financial burden on those in the developed world—since most of the species in need of protection are in the third world, and much of the treaty’s costs are being devoted to items outside the treaty!....

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